Key Findings at a Glance
- The role of Search has evolved from a gateway to a predictive, multimodal entry point in the consumer journey—requiring advertisers to modernize traditional keyword and optimization models to align with AI-driven discovery behaviors.
- Adaptive Excellence is the new imperative: Sustainable performance depends on pairing platform-native capabilities with complementary strategies that maximize relevance, control, and ROI.
- Success in the AI era requires a fundamental shift in strategy—embracing simplified structures, multimodal content, privacy-forward data infrastructure, and agile team capabilities.
- To remain visible and valuable, content must be structured, dynamic, and adaptable—so it can be surfaced effectively across voice responses, visual formats, and AI-generated summaries.
- As AI reshapes the user journey and decision-making, winning brands are those who evolve faster—modernizing activation models and measurement frameworks to thrive in this accelerating landscape.
Introduction
The role of Search is evolving from a gateway to information into an intelligent, predictive entry point in the consumer journey. Driven by rapid advances in AI, search experiences are now multimodal, dynamic, and increasingly autonomous in anticipating user intent.
For advertisers, this shift marks a critical inflection point. Traditional search strategies—built around predictable keywords and manual optimization—are no longer sufficient to keep pace. Instead, success now requires Adaptive Excellence: a new model that balances the automation power of AI platforms with complementary strategic solutions that maximize performance, transparency, and
consumer relevance.
In this paper, Google and Publicis explore how the future of search is unfolding—and how advertisers can lead by modernizing activation models, embracing new AI capabilities, and embedding strategic agility at the core of their approach.
The Role of AI in Search Platforms
Search platforms are a pivotal battleground in the digital advertising landscape, characterized by vast data, real-time interactions, and complex user intent. Each day, 15% of the searches on Google are entirely new—highlighting the velocity and unpredictability of modern user behavior. Navigating this dynamic environment to achieve and sustain peak performance demands more than traditional strategies—it requires Adaptive Excellence.
To appreciate AI’s transformative role in this domain, it’s essential to first understand its core capabilities. These capabilities are evident in the rise of features like AI Overviews, which provide quick, AI-generated summaries directly within search results, and the emerging AI Mode, designed for deeper, more conversational AI-powered search experiences.
Understanding AI in Search Activation
Artificial Intelligence is transforming how search platforms operate—shifting from rule-based automation to more dynamic, context aware systems that interpret signals in increasingly human-like and predictive ways. Today, AI systems don’t just follow inputs; they evaluate context, analyze behavior, and adjust outcomes in real time.
Key capabilities now powering search activation include:
- Automated optimization – AI uses performance data to dynamically adjust targeting, bidding, and delivery based on evolving user behavior.
- Language understanding – New systems comprehend and respond to complex, conversational queries—moving beyond exact keywords to interpret true intent and nuance.
- Predictive decisioning – AI anticipates user needs, enabling campaigns to reach people before they explicitly express intent.
- Generative content – AI now generates and personalizes ad content at scale, unlocking new creative possibilities.
These advancements represent a major shift from traditional search mechanics. Instead of rigid keyword structures and manual levers, success now depends on how well advertisers align with the logic and learning patterns of these AI-driven systems.
Potential Impact on Search Campaigns
Marketers are facing a unique challenge in trying to find their customers amidst this new and rapidly changing search behavior. With Google Search reaching over 2 billion users daily, the velocity, variation, and volume of daily search queries make it increasingly difficult to predict where to find potential customers and speak to them with the relevance being demanded.
Successfully competing within AI-driven search demands a shift in creative and content strategy—moving beyond text-only optimization to support diverse modalities and interaction types. This includes ensuring content is structured, dynamic, and adaptable so it can be surfaced effectively across AI-powered experiences, including conversational voice responses, visual search results, and
comprehensive AI-generated summaries.
As users consume more information directly within search results and AI interfaces, maintaining engagement and driving action requires new creative formats and analytics. These interactions introduce complexity in performance measurement and attribution, demanding more sophisticated models for understanding how AI surfaces content and how users engage with it.
Relying solely on manual efforts creates opportunity costs and slows responsiveness. Advertisers must embrace automation not just for efficiency—but to unlock the scale, speed, and precision needed to connect with consumers across a multimodal, AI-native landscape.
Strategic Imperative for Search Advertisers: Adaptive Excellence
As AI-driven capabilities reshape search experiences, advertisers must evolve their strategies and operating models to keep pace. Adaptive Excellence is about embracing the full spectrum of change—from how platforms interpret user behavior to how campaigns are structured, optimized, and measured.
- Simplify Structures to Enable AI Optimization
Consolidating and aligning account structures around clear signals allows machine learning systems to optimize more effectively, removing unnecessary complexity. - Evolve Beyond Static Keyword Models
To succeed in AI-powered search, advertisers must move past rigid keyword tactics and design strategies that account for how platforms dynamically interpret user intent. This means ensuring assets, structures, and signals are optimized for relevance across increasingly fluid and conversational search journeys. - Build Complementary Strategies Around AI Systems
AI platforms excel at automation, but true performance comes from pairing them with strategic inputs—like audience signals, content frameworks, and measurement models—that enhance their effectiveness. Advertisers who tailor their data, creative, and campaign architecture to complement how AI works can maintain control while maximizing outcomes. - Modernize Data, Identity, and Privacy Infrastructure
Building resilient, privacy-forward frameworks that support scaled audience targeting and measurement across global regulatory environments. - Upskill Teams for AI-Era Search Activation
Enabling talent to interpret AI signals, optimize dynamically, and manage campaigns across an increasingly multimodal ecosystem will be critical to future success.
By embedding these imperatives, advertisers can maximize the value of AI platforms while maintaining the strategic precision necessary to drive sustainable growth.
Conclusion & Call to Action: Your Roadmap to Adaptive Excellence in AI Search
The future of Search will be increasingly dynamic, multimodal, and personalized. Users are now engaging with AI-generated experiences—asking complex questions, comparing products visually, and expecting predictive, assistive responses. Innovations like AI-powered agents, multimodal formats, and conversational search flows are reshaping how discovery happens—where AI doesn’t just answer questions, but anticipates what users want next.
Advertisers who modernize their foundations to align with how AI understands, delivers, and prioritizes relevance will be best positioned to lead. Success will come from blending platform-native capabilities with strategic precision and agile adaptation to emerging AI behaviors.
Adaptive Excellence is the key to thriving in today’s AI-led Search landscape—requiring strategic focus across three critical areas:
- Prioritize Content Designed for AI Visibility
As AI systems increasingly determine what content surfaces across voice, visual, and generative search experiences, advertisers must ensure their content is structured, accessible, and adaptable across formats. Success requires going beyond traditional SEO—crafting assets that are easily interpreted by AI and optimized for multimodal discovery. Publicis brings specialized expertise to help brands structure, align, and amplify their content for this new AI-native search landscape - Adapt to How AI Interprets User Behavior
As AI becomes central to search, platforms like Google are shifting from exact-match keywords to interpreting intent through context, semantics, and behavioral patterns. Advertisers must evolve campaign strategies to complement how these systems work—structuring inputs in ways that guide AI toward brand-relevant outcomes. While tools like Broad Match and Smart Bidding offer reach, performance depends on the strategic frameworks behind them. Publicis leverages strategic models designed to align with how AI systems operate—improving efficiency, precision, and results. - Strategically Align with Emerging AI Capabilities
As search platforms evolve, new AI-powered formats like Google’s AI Max introduce deeper performance across targeting, creative, and delivery. These tools are designed to interpret user needs in real time and adapt across increasingly dynamic search entry points. Rather than treating them as plug-and-play, success lies in understanding how these systems operate—and shaping your inputs accordingly. From audience signals to creative structure, strategic alignment is key to unlocking performance while maintaining brand integrity and relevance.
The evolution of search is not merely incremental; it’s foundational and accelerating. Brands that commit to building AI-native foundations by strategically adopting these powerful solutions today will not just keep pace—they will lead in this new AI-driven search era, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for growth, relevance, and connection with their audience.
Now is the time to modernize search activation models, strengthen privacy-resilient identity frameworks, and equip teams to optimize dynamically—laying the foundation for Adaptive Excellence in the AI-powered future of search. This foundation also includes a commitment to continuously evolving measurement frameworks, ensuring that as AI reshapes user journeys and commercial opportunities, the methods for tracking and attributing performance remain precise and relevant.
To understand how these transformative shifts impact your strategy and to explore your brand’s unique opportunities for Adaptive Excellence in AI-powered search, we encourage you to connect with your dedicated Publicis and Google partners.
About the Authors
Chaz Sargent is the SVP, Global Head of Search at Publicis Groupe, leading the organization’s search marketing strategy and innovation initiatives.
Brandon Glasgow is a Global Agency Lead at Google, leading the strategic partnership with Publicis Groupe to drive advertiser growth in the evolving AI-powered search landscape.